BIO

John L. Peyton was an artist and outdoorsman before he was old enough to go to school. He was born in Proctor, Minnesota and lived in the Northland all his life. As he grew up, he traveled the lakes and rivers of the back country on his own or in the company of loggers, trappers or Native Americans. After graduating from Central High School in Duluth, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy and went on to Yale where he played on the water polo team. While attending Yale Art School and the Art Students League of New York, he studied with such masters as Charles Burchfield, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and George Grosz. He later studied painting under Duluth artists David Erickson and Knute Heldner.

John worked in watercolor, oils, pastels, and acrylics, but his favorite medium was computer-generated art, “This is the freest expression of art I have ever done, just save it and be adventurous. If I don’t like the outcome I can always come back to what I just saved!” His paintings and illustrations reflected his love and respect for the environment and his appreciation of our region’s history. “I guess it’s a fondness for the area and the wildlife and the people as well as the landscapes. Those have been the subjects of my writings and my books.”

In 1970, he opened the Lake Superior Art Gallery in Duluth and gave art lessons, held art exhibits, and sold artwork from his studio. He took an active part in efforts to extend National Forest boundaries in the Wild Rivers program against development and pollution and other environmental controversies. He organized the Stop the Freeway movement in the 1970s, thereby helping to give Duluth the beautiful lakewalk along I-35, enjoyed by residents and tourists alike.

Peyton has had many stories, articles and illustrations published in Outdoor Life, Country Gentlemen, Blue Book, Successful Farming and many juvenile publications. For seven years he edited and published the Magazine of Ducks and Geese from his farm in Hermantown. He wrote and illustrated five books in his eighties. His first book, The Stone Canoe retells legends of the Ojibwe and won the 1991 Minnesota Book Award for fiction. Voices from the Ice, a children’s book of an Ojibwe family’s trip to the sugarbush was published in 1991 and Faces in the Firelight published in 1992 was his first novel. They were followed by his compelling autobiography Bright Beat the Water in 1993 and The Birch in 1994.

John Peyton lived to the age of 94, and continued to write up to the end. His final manuscript, Strife of Gods awaits publication. Though he was a banker, his first love was painting and nature. He revered life, family, learning and the environment. His paintings and writings are reflections of a rich and full life. “I would like to show in my paintings and books what life was like in the woods in the early part of the century. It’s changed entirely since then.”

John’s daughter, Beryl Peyton and her daughter, Kris, and son-in-law, Doug Cameron are keeping his work alive by producing giclee prints of the substantial holdings of original art the family maintains. This work is being promoted through Hawk Ridge Art of Duluth. Originals, original prints, and giclee prints are available in area galleries.

ART AUCTION:

John Peyton will be donating to Celebrations of Wines art auction: a tour of Dubrue, his grandson's brewery and follow up with a visit to his daughter's home and art tour of their home gallery in Lakeside.

A framed original print valued at $200.00 will also be in the silent auction.

CONTACT:
John L. Peyton is represented by Hawk Ridge Art of Duluth: www.hawkridgeart.com
Doug and Kris Cameron